Caribbean Cruising - A Scenic Byway One Day Adventure groveland to Minden over Ebbetts Pass,

! . . . Goodness. . . My. . As in oh. It's got a serious Jaw Factor, i know now why it took me so long to do Ebbetts Pass. So now I can say I have really done all the routes from Groveland over the Sierra Nevada mountain pass highways to the Eastern Sierras.

I even bought a bottle of green wine from Irish. Black Sheep Winery at the end of Main Street has a cute tasting room and Irish at the opposite end of town was very talkative. We did some wine tasting at a few tasting rooms that aren't typically open on our midweek-days off, but all was not a total loss. Odd? . . The neatest antique plumbing store in the world wasn't open on the 4th of July, as luck would have it. . . But. We chose this route so we could go to Murphys and unload the "antique" sinks that Victor just upgraded in our rooms.

Several camping areas and picnic grounds, following a small stream, we hit the road again, after a few photos and a run through the museum. ) to access the trees. No traffic and you don't have to walk down a steep hill (or up one, no crowds, even better perhaps than those big trees in Yosemite! The best little park for the big trees, we continued west after Murphys to Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

But quite stunning and very worthy of its recent National Scenic Byway designation, but know too that Ebbetts Pass is the slowest of all the routes over the Sierras, so absolutely go for the experience. It is fairly remote for most of the trip. The views are grand for sure! But one does drive on the edge of the seat for an hour and a half anticipating with bated breath these pitched moments, the portions of the road that were actually this steep were also very brief, kindly. A phenomenal pitch, the sign post at the top indicates that you will drop down at a 25% grade. It quickly becomes quite twisted, the road narrows to the smallest of possible widths for two cars to pass with no real edge. And immediately so, that things on the road changed, an immensely appealing stop, it isn't until after we reach Alpine Lake. The road is quite normal by state highway standards and I am waiting for the big cliffy stuff to start.

We don't gamble much and this was true this night also. I chose the duck and wished I had the Kobe, the Kobe Flat Iron steak, victor's meal was fabulous. We ended up celebrating our "anniversary" here with an over-large room and dinner at Michael's. Every employee was well focused on making our visit memorable, you won't be disappointed in the customer service if you ever find yourself here. Once there we discovered the Carson Valley Inn. We decided to head to Minden instead, knowing that even the best case scenario would likely be a very simple room at a steep price. We just couldn't do it. We had called our little casino hotel in Tahoe to get a room on the 4th of July and they were selling our $65 a night room for $299, well as these getaways happen for us rather last minute. . . Nevada you might ask, ) end up in the oasis town of Minden. So how in the world did the two of us savvy world travelers (hahaha!

But still beautiful Highway 88 across the Sierras and then headed back up route 4, this time we took the less dramatic. No need hauling them all back to Groveland, our way back we needed to stop in Murphys at that great antique plumbing store to take care of the sinks.

Travelers along this route might take it a bit slower and see more of the sites. Mind-Clearing with a few new discoveries along the way, sweet, another typical Hotel Charlotte getaway: Short. 24 and a half hours, sonora and Groveland, back to Murphys, back around the mountains, minden, over Ebbets Pass, calaveras Big Trees State Park, hotel Charlotte (http://www.HotelCharlotte.com) in Groveland to Murhpys.